


Thirteen

by ncruuk



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-03 03:24:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncruuk/pseuds/ncruuk
Summary: The Thirteenth Doctor's first visit to the Tower is complete, just in time for Kate to make her weekly audience at the Palace... but not before she's found out why McGillop's decided to avoid his lab...[A little ficlet I've just written at a bit of a gallop the night of the day Jodie Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor.  Set very firmly in my UNIT-verse...]





	Thirteen

 

“Have you heard the news?” asked McGillop, bumping into Max in the corridor that connected Osgood and McGillop’s shared lab to the stairs most people used as a shortcut to Kate’s office.

 

“About the Doctor?”  Max saw McGillop nod.  “Yeah…”  Max sighed, heavily.

 

“What’s that for?” McGillop hadn’t considered that his enthusiasm wouldn’t be shared by the soldier who was one of the few people at the Tower who knew Osgood even better than McGillop did.  “I thought you’d be alright with it…”

 

“Which part?”  Shoving his hands in his pocket, Max slumped dejectedly against the wall.

 

“What do you mean which part?  About the Doctor being…”  McGillop gulped and waved his hands about before finally squeaking out “...female,” only to self-consciously clear his throat - it was embarrassing, but the reality was he always squeaked when talking about the Doctor, and, unlike some of his colleagues, it had nothing to do with the Doctor’s latest post-regeneration aesthetic.

 

“Oh, no, that’s not the problem….”

 

“What is the problem?”

 

“She’s got a crush on Mum.”

 

“Ah.”  There was a moment’s pause before McGillop’s ears and brain actually checked in with each other.  “Wait, what did you just say?”

 

“The Doctor.  She’s…”  Max rubbed the back of his head, struggling with the conversation in the same way most sons struggled when it came to thinking about their parents in anything other than the most puritanical ways.  “...flirting at Mum.”

 

“Really?  But that’s….”  Suddenly, McGillop was reminding that Max wasn’t just Kate Stewart’s son, but he was also significantly larger, fitter, stronger and far more lethally trained than McGillop was, prompting him to gulp again and feel his ears start to glow.  “...I can’t say anything that won’t end badly for me.”

 

“Sorry…”  Realising what he’d been starting to do, Max deliberately took a step back and grinned apologetically, sticking his hands back in his trouser pockets.  “...I know she’s not the first person to have a go at flirting with her…. I get it, sort of...at least, I get how people would be attracted to the idea of flirting with the Boss...and if I don’t think of her as…”

 

“Your Mum?”

 

“Yeah...she’s...alright I guess…”  The way Max’s grin grew suggested to McGillop that his rather muted compliment was actually far more generous but he couldn’t get past the idea of Kate Stewart being the woman he thought of as ‘Mum’.

 

“I totally understand…” agreed McGillop, only for his eyes to widen.  “I was thinking about trying to explain if it were my Mum!”  He put his hands up, wanting Max to be completely clear that he definitely was not in any way trying to think about Kate Stewart objectively as a thoroughly gorgeous, smart and brilliant woman….

 

“Relax man…” Max’s easy grin returned, confirming he’d not only had his sense of humour return, but it had returned enough to be able to tease the scientist.  “I know what you meant.”

 

“So if it’s not that…” McGillop rushed on, wanting to at least change the subject ever so slightly and shift the focus back onto the Doctor.  “...what is it?”

 

“Osgood…”  Max stepped forward again, deciding if there was one person he could share this with, it was the man who shared Osgood’s lab, but only under threat of absolute confidence.  “And I will…”  Max looked meaningfully at McGillop.

 

“Inflict horrible pain and social isolation if I admit any of this to anyone, least of all a Greyhound?  Message received.”

 

“...she’s mad.”

 

“Mad?”  McGillop frowned.  “With who?”

 

“I’m not sure...were you going back to your lab?”

 

“I was…”  Judging from Max’s expression, this was the wrong plan.  “...but I can always go and do the software review that Malcolm’s been wanting me to do for him over in the Raven Control Room?”

 

“I’ll walk with you…” agreed Max suddenly, clapping his arm around McGillop’s narrow shoulders and steering him briskly away from the direction of the lab, getting them round the corner just as they heard the distinctive sound of Kate Stewart striding down the corridor….

 

* * *

 

“Os?”  Kate shut the lab door behind her, grateful that she didn’t have to invent a reason to evict McGillop from his own workspace as she had no idea how she was going to have this conversation with her girlfriend, nevermind were she to have had an audience.  “Talk to me?”  Kate walked across the lab to where Osgood was stood, scarf discarded in a tangle on the side next to her computer, working away although how effective the work was Kate wasn’t sure, given how loudly the keyboard was being bashed.  “Please?”  Tentatively, she reached out, her hand hovering over Osgood’s hip, wanting to wrap her arms around her girlfriend but not sure whether it would be appreciated or not.

 

“Hug?” asked Osgood, her breathing starting to accelerate in pace, alarming Kate more than anything else that had happened in the last hour or so.

 

“Always…” agreed Kate easily, her own sigh of relief rushing past Osgood’s unusually bare neck as she slipped her hands round Os’ waist and inched close enough that there was no space between their bodies but equally, she wasn’t applying any pressure.  Resting her chin on Osgood’s shoulder, like they’d done countless times before, Kate closed her eyes for a moment and just concentrated on keeping her own breathing steady in case Os wanted to have a rhythm to pace against...at least, that was her excuse if she needed one.

 

How long they stood like that, Kate didn’t know or care, but with her eyes still closed, she smiled when she felt her girlfriend’s hands come up to rest on hers and gradually felt Osgood relax against her.

 

“What’s up?” asked Kate eventually, once she was confident Osgood’s lungs had stopped being petulant again.  “And do you want to set the Ravens on them?” she teased, nudging Osgood’s ear with her nose.  “You’d have to do your own paperwork mind…”

 

“Thanks…”  Osgood grinned in spite of everything.  “...but I don’t think the Ravens are loyal enough to attack the Doctor for me.”

 

“The Doctor?”  Surprised, Kate picked her head up from her girlfriend’s shoulder and looked puzzled at a point just beyond Osgood’s nose.  “What’s the Doctor done?”

 

“You have no idea…”

 

“Sorry…”  Sensing from Osgood’s shrug and head shake that this was perhaps not a Greyhound One issue, Kate returned her chin to Os’ shoulder.  “...silly idiotic thing here...need spelling it out to me I’m afraid.  What did I miss that I shouldn’t have missed?”

 

“Nothing…”  Osgood felt Kate’s frown of confusion.  “I mean, you did miss something but you didn’t do the wrong thing by missing it…”

 

“Okay….”  Osgood’s explanation hadn’t helped, but clearly Kate wasn’t in trouble yet, so she stayed where she was and tried to be patient.  Actually, being patient with Osgood was never a problem - she’d happily stay like this with her girlfriend all afternoon if she could, but it was Tuesday and Fran would be sending the search party out for her if she wasn’t back in her office and ready to go to the Palace for her weekly audience in twenty minutes.

 

“The Doctor…”  Osgood gulped and, for a brief second, Kate wondered if she was going to start wheezing again, but after another gulp Osgood seemed to be calmer.  “...she fancies you.”

 

“Really?”  Kate bit her lip as she tried to remember what might have happened to make Osgood form that unlikely opinion.  “But I’m…”  Kate was about to say ‘too old for her’ before censoring herself in time - not only was Osgood rather sensitive about Kate being sensitive about their relative ages, but it made no sense as far as the Doctor was concerned.  “...singularly uninteresting compared to you.”

 

“You hadn’t noticed?”

 

“Not at all.  I just presumed it was post regeneration clumsiness, so didn’t say anything in case I was accidentally rude.”  Just occasionally, Kate did behave like the seasoned and experienced diplomat she was rather than the wry, unflappable scientist Osgood had fallen in love with, catching Osgood off guard.

 

“Only you…”  Starting to laugh, Osgood turned around in her girlfriend’s arms so she could look at Kate who was grinning the sort of smile that told Osgood she knew she was being laughed at but not caring in the slightest.  “...you really didn’t notice it was flirting?”

 

“Nope.”  Kate ‘eskimo-kissed’ Osgood’s nose.  “But then I wasn’t looking.”  She kissed Osgood’s nose.  “Which may well make me a daft fool…”  This got her a grin from Os, which in turn got Osgood a kiss on the lips.  “...but I’m your daft fool…”  And another, more sustained kiss on the lips.

 

“Mmm…”  Osgood eased back from the kiss, her expression a mixture of love and embarrassment.  “...silly idiotic thing…” 

 

“Anyway, the Doctor’s not my type…” Kate’s grin grew as she felt Osgood’s fingers starting to trace patterns through her shirt, a big giveaway that her lover was feeling more herself again.

 

“Oh?”  Osgood frowned in thought.

 

“Nope…”  Kate leaned back and blatantly raked her gaze over her girlfriend’s upper body and face.  “...too old for me…” she teased, laughing when she felt the expected light twack to her side for the bad joke.  “...too blonde for me…” she continued, knowing she really was at the limit if Os pinched her, but the gentle thwack to her other side confirmed she was still getting away with it.  “...and distinctly lacking in one fundamental and non-negotiable element.”

 

“Oh?”  Intrigued, Osgood tried to work out what could be the characteristic that the Doctor didn’t have that mattered to Kate.

 

“She’s completely Osgood-free…”  Kate rested her forehead against Osgood’s crumpled one, feeling the frown disappear as her girlfriend ‘got’ the joke.  “...and that’s completely unacceptable.”

 

“Ah.”  Osgood thought for a moment.

 

“No.”

 

“But?”

 

“No.”  Kate wasn’t entirely sure what her girlfriend’s brain was thinking, but didn’t want to know.

 

“Not even…”

 

“Nope, not even in a month of Sundays and with Tronkie’s blessing…”  Kate kissed the tip of Osgood’s nose while she waited for Osgood to work out the probability of such an unlikely event.  “...only one person’s got the necessary combination of everything I love plus the appropriate concentration of Osgoodness…and I’m currently trying to kiss her.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“Os?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“That was a hint.”

 

“Oh.”  There was a pause.  “Oh!”

* * *

  
  


Seventeen minutes later, Fran got a text from Osgood.

 

_ She’s on her way, my fault.  Not sorry ;-) _

 

That was the thing about Greyhounds, decided Fran, smiling as she picked up the phone to let Jenkins know it was going to be a lights, sirens, outriders and pray that the traffic was light sort of trip to the Palace, they really were maddening at times...but somehow it only made you like them more.

 

“Jenkins?  It’s me...yeah, she’s not yet back...no, not the Doctor, it was Osgood...“  


End file.
